Old Wives' Tales
by Octavius
Summary: They, all of them, have their own little superstitions. Quatre has to grin a little thinking this because it's endearing as far as coldhearted boy terrorists go. Quatre's POV. Oneshot


They, all of them, have their own little superstitions. Quatre has to grin a little thinking this because it's endearing as far as cold-hearted boy terrorists go.

5. Wufei won't eat any kind of seafood if he's injured and he sniffs a little in disapproval when any of the others do.  
Duo had been peeling open a ration bar when he'd thought to ask "What have you got against the friendly fish Wu-man?"

"The Heavy Metals left in most oceanic quarters from pre-colony times tends to be stored in the fatty tissues of most sea animals and affect the body's healing cycle." He paused. "Basically Maxwell seafood makes you swell up and be slow, not that that could affect you any more."

Duo stopped mid-bite into the ration bar entitled Shrimp and Peach!  
looked down at the indistinguishable segments of salmon color, then swallowed with relish.  
"Dude, if there is any fish in this, it can make me as bloated as it wants."

4. Quatre doesn't consider himself superstitious. Well, not really. There are things he likes to do before he goes to battle. Little traditions. He likes to sit with his compass on his knee and point the way to Mecca -it calms him a little. He likes to polish the lenses of his goggles, and he has to have the elastic band around his head fit _just right_ because he hates it if they slips onto his face. He likes going down to see the Maganacs making their last modifications to their suits and saying a little prayer for them. Most of them have little charms (or big ones) inside their suits; some even have Qu'ran verses painted painstakingly over their breastplates.

"For Luck." Rashid tells him, when he catches him during one of those little sessions.  
"For luck in battle?"  
"Yes and-" Auda comes up behind them and winks, "Luck with women is good too."

Quatre only has one. A little silver hand with blue glass eye on the palm. Iria brought it back for him from Turkey, "to ward off the evil eye." He likes especially the little sounds of the silver chain clinking together while he's upping the gears on Sandrock's engine when the cockpit vibrates fit to burst.

3. For a long time it doesn't seem like Trowa has any superstitions. He wasn't afraid of the dark (none of them were). He eats everything, cheese, fish, pork, bananas, though he was rather partial to apples. Trowa counts the ammo caches for Heavyarms exactly three times and doesn't worry about them again after that. He knows all the soldiers myths about gremlins, jamming guns, men being electrocuted by pissing on an electrified rail, but doesn't pay any attention to them. He does like to ruffle Quatre's hair before a battle, but Quatre thinks he also likes touching Heero's shoulder -briefly- with a knuckle, or handing a cup of coffee to Wufei.

Then somewhere in space he feels sorrow like a sucker punch to the chest, and _knows_ it's him. Quatre even cries a little himself when he sees Deathscythe blown apart on TV.

2. Duo is so superstitious he doesn't even know where to start. Quatre catches him doing all sorts of things: throwing salt over his shoulder, avoiding ladders, blaming cracked mirrors on everyone else. Once on October 31st he'd kicked in Heero's door dressed in a black cloak and one of those plastic scythes they sold at costume shops. Heero'd nearly killed him, but Duo had just grinned madly through the entire process, and said "You can't kill death man, but," here he'd sucked in breath from where he'd managed to pry a few fingers from his throat, "I'll _definitely_ give you points for trying." For next couple of days he had kept his collar undone so everyone could see the blue-black marks, had gone around wearing the bruises like a badge of courage.

But there are other things, deep rooted things that Quatre won't touch. The flat cross that lies against his breastbone as if it had been tattooed there. Duo telling him he doesn't have a name so death can't find him. One time Quatre had come in to talk tactics two hours before suiting up and found Duo doing Hail Marys on his knees. Duo had just looked up for a second and smiled briefly, but his hands didn't unclench from gold chain at his neck. He'd shut the door quickly, apologized of course, but had gone away oddly embarrassed. Possibly more embarrassed than if he had walked in on Duo looking at porn or having sex, because this is something quieter and private. It was one of those things they didn't talk about.

1. Quatre has to ask Heero if he's superstitious because really he can't guess. Heero glances at him once as if to say _how is this topic in anyway imperative to the mission_, but instead he says "No."   
When he turns around Quatre sees the gun in the small of his back, and thinks that he couldn't be more wrong.

He doesn't mind any of this though. He likes Trowa ruffling his hair, Wufei's disapproval, Duo's outbursts, Heero's denial, and the slow loving lines of the Maganacs' verses. They're all the more human for it.


End file.
